Thanks for sharing. The fact that you received your AOR yesterday gives me hope. I have submitted a webform and i am waiting for CIC'S reponse.I do understand your frustration. My application was received by CIC on Oct 13/17 and I received my AOR only yesterday. I had tried calling CIC and also submitted webform, also contacted MP which did not help at all. This all I did in December.
I had submitted a webform again this month (1st week of Jan) saying it will be close to 3 months and I have not heard anything from you guys. To which I received reply (on Jan 11th) that I can expect AOR shortly. And rest of the line in reply was standard format.
Not sure if this will help you any, I just shared my experience.